A proposed road for a sprawling industrial complex that would route truck traffic to state Route 13 and off some local Horseheads streets has failed to get federal funding several times, but local officials are trying a new strategy.

Southern Tier Economic Growth President George E. Miner said he included the project as part of a recently submitted application for New York’s new $1.5 billion Upstate Revitalization Initiative. Seven regions in the state, including the Southern Tier, are competing for the money, in which three regions will get $500 million each.

“The connector road would definitely benefit HOST. I know there is always a concern about truck traffic in the village,” Miner said.

The road project is estimated at $15 million, and a portion of that cost, 20 percent, would be covered if the Southern Tier is one of the three regions chosen for initiative funding, Miner said.

It could alleviate a situation now at the Horseheads Sand and Loading Facility, a 200-acre park called HOST that is home to about a dozen businesses with room for more. It has three entrances, and truck traffic often uses Old Ithaca Road to get to Route 13 and then Interstate 86 or Wygant Road to get to Westinghouse Road.

Horseheads Village Mayor Don Zeigler said he hears many concerns, from the number of trucks to safety to the noise of air brakes on residential streets. He renewed a call for the road following an Aug. 22 accident that killed two people and an Aug. 26 crash that critically injured another person, both on heavily traveled Westinghouse Road.

“Westinghouse Road is a very busy truck traffic road. The Center at Horseheads (now known as HOST) can generate truck traffic, and most likely will be doing more of that when they expand. It’s all the more reason we need the connector road,” Zeigler said.

HOST was formerly called The Center at Horseheads and dates back to the 1940s, when the Army Corps of Engineers built it as a military depot. Some companies there are support industries for the gas drilling industry in Pennsylvania, and many customers come by truck to pick up products there.

“You have Schlumberger, sand trucks, Fed Ex. It takes a real toll on Westinghouse Road and the local people,” Zeigler said.

Mitchell Wolff, spokesman for HOST and associated with the complex since 1988, thinks a connector road could help it reach full occupancy again.

“It would attract new companies because with the way the economy is now, people are so price-sensitive. Just being able to get off the highway and get right to HOST would cut down on the time it took driving in and out,” Wolff said. “Whenever I speak to potential new companies about coming in, I mention that possibility (connector road), and their eyes light up.”

Having to use Old Ithaca Road and Wygant Road is not ideal for truck drivers, Wolff said. “It slows them down, and it is not as easy to give directions. A lot of these drivers are from out of town.”

The Chemung County Department of Public Works is the sponsor of the project.

HOST is on the west side of Old Ithaca Road. The proposed two-lane, 0.75-mile road would run from the east side of Old Ithaca Road to Route 13, which offers access to Interstate 86. It would require a new intersection with traffic lights on Route 13, along with a bridge over Newtown Creek. It also runs through wetlands.

Jim Arey, director of the Elmira-Chemung Transportation Council, said a study on the road began in 2006 and funding applications from a very competitive federal program have been denied three times.

“We got funding to do the preliminary work, engineering work, costing it out, the initial stages of environmental review,” said Chemung County Deputy County Executive Mike Krusen.

The road ranks highly in the Transportation Council’s long-range plan, along with building a Northern Arterial that would connect the north end of the Clemens Center Parkway to Interstate 86. For now, though, it is on hold.

“Without that funding, we are not in position to do this,” Krusen said.

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The entrance to HOST, the Horseheads Sand and Loading Facility, on Old Ithaca Road in Horseheads. The proposed connector road to Route 13 would be built on the opposite side of the road.(Photo: BOB JAMIESON / STAFF PHOTO)

One issue, Miner said, is the road would cross a flood control levee built by the Army Corps of Engineers after the 1972 flood, and they are still waiting for the state Department of Environmental Conservation to certify the levee before federal funds are sought again. “Once you breach a levee, there are liability issues,” he said.

Another drawback: “It doesn’t open up any new land for development. The land it crosses is in a flood plain,” Miner said.

“We will keep plugging away at it. One of the main arguments given in the application (for federal funding) was safety, air emissions from trucks, getting out of village quicker and more efficiently,” Miner said.

“I don’t think the interest has diminished at all,” he said. “The need is still there. Optimism on getting federal funding is another story.”